Embodiments described herein relate generally to voice and data communications and more particularly to apparatus and methods for multi-mode asynchronous communication routing (ACR) and tracing.
In today's society, advances in technology allow individuals to use multiple modes of communication from a home or office and while on the go. Individuals can communicate using voice, text messaging, instant message, e-mail, or the like. Accordingly, infrastructure exists to support these modes of communication; yet, the infrastructure is often designed to support an uninterrupted conversation through a single mode of communication. Thus, it is difficult to have a unified multi-mode communication that spans a series of interactions that might be required to complete a transaction.
In addition, the advances in technology have enabled some individuals to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. As a result, a cultural shift has begun toward a faster paced, efficient, and client controlled customer self-service. However, many enterprises offer a customer service system that is unreliable, synchronous, and/or not sufficiently customer friendly. For example, in some instances an individual may be interrupted while in the progress of interacting with a customer support organization or system (e.g., an interactive voice response (IVR) system), or by other obligations, thereby negating the value of at least a portion of the progress made. Furthermore, most customer service systems require a single mode of communication be used to fully complete a specific task.
In traditional customer service, a client calls in and is routed to an agent based on a series of questions, often repeating those questions. In some cases, the client has to remember or write down the case number so that the agent can look it up. In many cases, a call is ended and then resumed at a later time when the client calls back in to customer service. The problem is the unlikeliness of returning clients to have access to the originating agent. In this situation, when resuming a case or help ticket, the client connects to a new agent that has to look up the case, repeat the questions to the client, and learn the specifics of the case. This is frustrating for the client as they have to repeat the problem they are having. This can also be costly for the call center due to the new agent having to spend extra time repeating questions and becoming familiar with the case in order to pick up where the first agent left off. Phone-based support such as this is single threaded, limiting the ability for clients and agents to maintain congruency through the lifecycle of engagement.
Thus, a need exists for improved methods and systems of multi-mode asynchronous communication having asynchronous conversation routing and tracing.